I am interested in India and this post contains a perspective on a story happening in India and Manhattan. There is a news-making diplomatic argument happening now and for some months, but it has gotten more tense lately because of many Indian politicians seeking to escalate it. I wanted to write about this because I find fault with both sides for not having better communication with the other. I see a lot of problems and not much good coming from this event, although I wish and hope that it leads to better communication in the future.

There is an Indian consul in Manhattan named Devyani Khobragade who recently had an argument with her domestic servant. The Devyani Khobragade incident has escalated into a major political row between India and the United States. What is interesting about this story to me is that the major media of neither country finds it favorable to tell much about the story at all. Both sides tell different parts, and both sides are obscuring most details of the version they want to tell, any reasonable explanation of the views of the other side, and what is happening in community conversation.

The story told in Indian mass media is that Devyani Khobragade is a respectable female government official. She brought a woman named Sangeeta Richard from India to be her domestic servant. By the laws of the United States the the servant was to be paid $9.75 per hour for 40 hours per week. In India sometimes laws like this are a formality which can be ignored, and privately Khobragade and Richard arranged a mutually agreeable work contract to replace the US law, and the servant gave her informed agreement of her own free will to waive US protections and accept Khobragade’s offer. Between November 2012 and June 2013 the servant worked for Khobragade, but then there was some disagreement between them because of the servant wanting to cancel her previous agreement with Khobragade and request more money for the same work. The servant went to the police, and for various reasons including racism and antagonism to Indian people in the United States, higher government officials became involved in supporting the servant to make trouble for Khobragade. For unnamed reasons the Americans decided to arrest Khobragade, but officially, they said that the reasons was visa fraud even though that was not really an issue. They arrested her at her daughter’s school to maximize the public shaming of her so as to make all other families with children at school shun Khobragade and her child for being among the social class which gets arrested. After arresting Khobragade, instead of processing her through the high-class arrest queue the Americans force her into the low-class arrest queue in order to further insult her. The arrest included unnecessary strip searching, body cavity searches, and her being put into a dirty jail with the drugs of society including drug users. The charges must be fake, because if they were really following the legal rules, they would have put her into the VIP jail and given her a VIP arrest. Indian politicians protested in the strongest ways and called for stronger government action. The US consul had been given special favors beyond the law and it had been expected that in return and for the sake of diplomacy, sometimes cultural differences must be overlooked for important people staying in other countries. If Khobragade is not vindicated from the charges and the shame then all of India is shamed.

The story told in American media is that Khobragade is an Indian consul who was underpaying her domestic worker Sangeeta Richard. After coming to the United States, somehow Richard came to talk to other other domestic workers, and came to know that there were unions through which such workers secure their rights. She asked for leave to go seek another job for more money, and rightly, Khobragade knew that Richard’s visa would not allow this as it was a diplomat’s entourage visa. Richard left the home anyway and sought work illegally. In response to this, Khobragade – very strangely by American standards – attempted to file a missing person report to the police to have the police return Richard to her. Of course in the United States employers do not have the right to file these kinds of reports on their workers, and if they do report missing workers, police are disallowed from reporting back the person’s whereabouts. Richard got a lawyer and demanded backpay by American law. Khobragade refused, citing that the prior agreement could override American law. When Richard pressed the issue, Khobragade had an arrest warrant for Richard issued in India and used her consular position to make an extradition request from India to the United States for Richard as a wanted criminal. When Richard did not appear, various forces put pressure on her husband and family in India to make her appear in the United States. At this point a serious misjudgement had been made, because top people in America have less power to stop bureaucratic processes than top people in India, and the extradition request went through its channels and a lot of unrelated offices were expecting a response. By United States standards, the extradition request was improperly formed and strange otherwise. Upon questioning Richard it was found that there was a claim of underpay, and what would immediately come to mind of any American hearing this situation is that a person was compelled to work below minimum wage for an employer who could deport an employee to jail, and that this situation seems like human trafficking or slavery. Also, because of Khobragade’s request, it would seem like any of the 100 Americans responsible for the case at this point would be personally supporting slavery if they were to arrest and deport Richard without her proper pay to be jailed in India. When Khobragade was arrested, it was by special police who arrest diplomatic workers. Khobragade was given every concession possible aligned with an arrest, but to an American who was arrested, I think they would only feel indignity if they feel like there was no cause for the arrest and if they were actually busted doing something suspect they would not make public statements about how dirty other inmates were. For someone who is accused of mistreating a servant insulting other lower classes, even prison populations, seems very inappropriate. When Indian officials sought to escalate the issue further and for Khobragade to be let free, I am sure the American response was just, “Why?”

Somehow I doubt that India even has special police who are employed only to arrest diplomats to India, and may not be expecting that such police are in place in the United States. Based on some of the news reactions, I think that many politicians commenting on this case also underestimate how much time and thought the United States puts into police actions. The United States may do a lot of bad things but when it needs to do so, offices in United States can follow establish workflows and follow designated processes.

This story fascinates me. I would like the result of it to be increased understanding between India and America. I wish that India could be positioned somehow to trade compassionate views with the United States and that this case could be framed as something other than America teaching India lessons. There are many injustices in the United States which never happen in India, and I wish that Indians had more voice to share what they do well. My sympathy is with Richard. It is unfortunate that some Indians feel that it is a fundamental right for them to have servants and for the servants to accept any kind of abuse. In India there is a concept of a “crorepati“, which conceptually is like a millionaire. Right now one crore rupees equals $160,000 USD. I think that anyone making even $10,000 annually in India must have house servants work for them at least several times a week. Anyone who makes $160,000 per year in India must have several house servants continually attend to them. In Manhattan it is unlikely that anyone making $160,000 would have a single full-time servant, because 40 hours a week * $10/hour * 52 weeks = $21,000 per year, or more than 10% of salary. America just is not designed to have full-time domestic help for anyone but the ultra rich. I suspect that most Indians, including the rich and middle class of all education levels and regardless of their travel experience, never imagine that outside India servants are uncommon and that few societies are set up to promote and sustain blatant hierarchy like India. There is hierarchy everywhere of course, and of course the United States has great disparities, but in the United States it simply is not as easy to recognize someone’s social class as it is in India; that is not good or bad but it is only a difference. I think that if the Indians who are in the media seeking to escalate tension were more aware of this then they would be more restrained in expecting to change American minds by protests. I regret that somehow that American diplomats were unable to do whatever necessary to resolve the conflict in a way fair to all involved, especially for the poor housekeeper’s sake.

6 responses to “the Devyani Khobragade incident”

For an american you know seem to quite a lot of India ways. However, you have got many things wrong. While, there would have been support for the maid, in this case Richard is just a craft and fishing women. Just to clarify, Devyani is not exactly a character officer.

Richard had along planned to use this route to get into the USA. she and her relatives have a long history of working in embassies. The whole this was manipulated. Surprisingly the Indian government escalated the matter.

Well america has certainly sophisticated systems in place, including diplomatic security. In India, i guess this would be done by a branch of the state police. However, you must remember, that India is great civilization. It is merely in this time period that i has fallen back and USA has achieved prominence. You must be aware that the current development paradigm, with USA as the greatest pollutor has threatened very existence of human race. No doubt if US pays for all the damages it would be same a great country. Hence one view is that it is a parasite.

I am not supporting Devyani, as an officer of elite foreign service, it is no excuse to pay the maid less just because thousands of other officer of perhaps all countries except some european one do the same. She cannot claim that she is not in fault. Her diplomatic immunity is another matter, as a diplomat she set set an example and maids are not essential. However, Richard is a crook, devyani has to pay because she hired a crook

You missed out on a few crucial facts. Dr Devyani Kobragade is a deputy consul general, holds a diplomatic passport so has consular immunity, limited to all non grave crimes. She can NOT be arrested unless she murdered or raped or did armed robbery, and that too only when she is proved of guilt by a court. So the arrest was illegal from start. Only US gov and media will deny that when it does not suit them and other country is weak / meek. And the subsequent unwarranted horrendous strip cavity search etc treatment was just unprecedented unthinkable and leaves all decent people nauseous.

Also the maid is way overpaid, in Rupees , 30000 is a lot of money, which she was all saving in indian bank, and all her expenses in USA were expenses incurred on job, and paid by employer, including food, lodging, clothes, calls to india, plane tickets, AND a dollar stipend. She was free to go out or come in, not incarcerated like a slave, had own set of house keys, could give up job and return to india anytime she wanted. Any maid in india would give her right arm
for such a job. Since all her New York expenses were covered, so the argument that Rs 30000 would be a pittance in NY is fallacious and misplaced.

Compare Dr Devyani’s maid to the maids US diplomats employ, for Rs 12000 (as revealed in reply to india gov query), with no free food, clothes, lodgings, no free calls, no medical, no travel allowances for travelling home and to work. How much would they save after rent, power bills, water bills, food, clothes, and bus fair to and from work? (bus tickets are minimum Rs 20 these days).

And when outrageous charges of slavery and human trafficking are alleged, people in India are not unjustified in thinking it is all a concocted lie.

And what you call ‘blatant hierarchy’, is just mass unemployment in India due to poor leftist policies of congress party that block most private enterprise from mass manufacturing using specious anti industry labor laws and red tape and other means like blocking technology development or import and its use. Ifall had jobs, few will be available for domestic work, and rates would be much higher. And it will happen soon if Narendra Modi comes in and Reforms Indian Economy like he has done in Gujrat (with a 10% poor ie jobless rate). Joblessness in rest of india is 40% to 50% (in keeping with third world standards)

Further, it is entirely possible for US dept of state to drop or disallow charges. Even in this case DA did ask dept of state before filling charges. I am assuming John Kerry gave the go ahead to arrest and strip search Dr Khobragade inspite of her immunity, and to frame charges. But he did not do so against the russian diplomats, no russian was arrested even, in the medicare fraud case. They were just quietly recalled back by Putin. Or consider the case of sex slavery against saudi prince abdel aziz where US granted retroactive immunity and allowed to keep his slave on US soil!

I expect that what she wanted was a better job opportunity for herself and family. This is a good thing and she should be proud, right? Does anyone not want this? How is it even possible that a poor servant can cheat a rich diplomat? Khobragade is rich and her servant is so weak and humble. Are you not proud that someone from the bottom of society has been successful and found a good job, and also is brave enough to demand her rights? Should she expect that her children can be more than craftspeople?

America is the greatest polluter, and starts the most wars, and causes a lot of diplomatic problems everywhere. Americans all know this very well and are confused and embarrassed about what to do. It would be useful to have more and better conversations with people in other countries so that these problems can be stopped. No one wants these things.

India has a lot to share with the world but for various reasons, Indian culture does not easily leave India and people in other countries have trouble understanding it. America and England, of course, take the position of trying to send their culture everywhere. I wish that I better understood Indian culture. I will email you and we can trade contact info in case you would like to talk with me.

@Rational – Thank you a lot for writing to me. I find your words fascinating because what you say is so foreign to me, and I like thinking about different cultures.

I like that you say that Khobragade had an “unwarranted horrendous strip cavity search”, because obviously there is a lot of police activity in America the culture here is to give a lot of power to the police. Strip and cavity searches are much less common in any other country. Generally, so I understand, people in India want local police to have less power, and I am sure that it seems strange to Indians that police could do this here, and also that they would do it to a diplomat, and a rich person, and a woman, and an Indian. From the American perspective, wealth, nationality, gender, diplomatic status, or whatever else does not matter once a person is arrested. It might be unusual that she was arrested, but assuming that she was arrested, do you believe that all arrested people are treated the same way? Are you expecting that some people get special arrest treatment, and then other people get this arrest treatment? Do you think that diplomats should get different treatment if arrested? There is an idea in America that people should be equal in the law. If she were arrested properly, then do you think that she got proper arrest treatment or do you think she got a special strip/cavity search?

I know that Indian media is reporting that the fact of the arrest was improper and illegal. Among other things, Indian government officials say that they gave Khobragade diplomatic immunity. I do not know what to think of this because it makes no sense to say this in America, because immunity would need to come from America and not from India. These diplomatic systems have been in place for centuries in the Western world, and I think that Western people understand the system here because it is part of our culture. For this reason, there is confusion here as to why people in India expected something different. Immunity comes from the host country, not from the home country, and Khobragade got papers from the United States telling her exactly what kind of immunity she has. India gives immunity to the American diplomats in India, not to Khobragade in America. There can be no confusion, and if Khobragade liked, she could go to the newspapers or any other media channel and show them her papers. It seems that she wants to hide these things because she wants special treatment outside the law. As it turns out, she got a different kind of immunity and left the United States, but she did not have immunity at the time of the alleged crime so it will stay on her record. If she had immunity when the crime was done, then the crime would not be on her record; this new immunity that allowed her to leave the United States was only immunity not to be arrested again and to illegally leave the country as a fugitive. Khobragade’s husband worked in America and her children were in school here, and I wonder what happens next because now Khobragade cannot come to the United States without facing trial so it seems they are separated a while.

The maid’s pay should have been at least the minimum legal amount in America. Are you really arguing that it is acceptable to go to another country and that travelers can bring their laws with them, and expect the new country to enforce those laws? Most Americans do not know of anyone getting paid below the legal rate. It happens, but any typical person who sees this would be upset, because whatever corruption happens in America is completely invisible and most people could not even guess where to look to see any corruption. Even in very poor parts of the United States most people could not imagine others working for less than minimum wage, with the big exception being people who are illegally in the United States and who have to hide themselves. Most Indians I have met have seen corruption at some point in their lives. America has a different understanding of money, and we expect people to be paid and then have freedom to spend their own money. If Richard got food, plane tickets, phone calls, rent, and work benefits, then that should be in addition to the minimum pay. Whatever else happened, the money should have gone into the maids hands, and the maid should have had freedom to arrange her own rent and food and plane tickets, and then still gets regular pay. Living with her employer, I strongly suspect that she was asked to work outside of an eight-hour period. 7am-3pm are good hours for a servant, then after that, Richard should have been an equal to everyone else in her home. I strongly suspect that Khobragade asked Richard to cook and clean both in the morning and evening every day, which is completely wrong and offensive in American view. This is the slavery.

If the Americans abuse their servants in India then they should go to Indian jail. I encourage you and all Indians to tell the American diplomats follow Indian law.

@Rational – The hierarchy in India is not just about the poor. Look at how you speak about Modi – your respect for him is a completely foreign idea to Americans. He is so high in the social hierarchy. Obama in America does not have the individual power or social status that Modi does, and even minor politicians in India have higher rank in Indian society than the president and other top politicians in America have in American society. How is it possible to even imagine that a single person can change so many things? For Modi to have any success at all in government, he will work with many other people closely and all of them will be sharing responsibility and power.

No it is not possible in America for one person to just drop charges. In India you have powerful leaders but in America we do not. So much about social relationships are different in India – family, government, friendships, relations with people living nearby, homeowner/servant – there are lots of differences. John Kerry is not powerful enough to order the charges to be dropped, and no, no one asked Kerry about Khobragade being arrested and strip searched because in America the regular workers make the decisions. It would not make sense to think that anyone could have asked Kerry about this, because it is not customary for people to do other people’s work here. In India all decisions have to go to the top person, and the top person is allowed to do anyone’s work. Because of this, people like Modi are very powerful, and people like Obama have less power as individuals than Modi.

I do not know much about the other diplomat cases. I could read about them if you wished to talk a bit more. I am not sure what to say. I assure you that Americans like Indians a lot more than they like Russians or Saudis; it is just a cultural bias but we were at war with Russia for 40 years and in the country’s strange relationship with Saudis they did destroy our World Trade Center and America did recently chase and kill a famous Saudi person hiding in Pakistan. Americans really want good relationships with India but it is confusing.

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